It was about 9 on the night after Penn State officials confirmed the university had been subpoenaed for dozens of documents by federal investigators. A reply-all email was sent out from the man the university had hired to safeguard its image in the wake of scandal.

“This leaves out Joe Paterno. Wasn’t he named in subpoena?” wrote Lanny Davis, the high-profile attorney known for spin control in the weeds of scandals involving the likes of Monica Lewinsky and Martha Stewart.

CHRIS KNIGHT, The Patriot-News, 2011 The Nittany Lion statue at Penn State University.

The Feb. 2 subpoena to Penn State — which asked for finance records, payments made by trustees to third parties, computer hard drives, complaints about Jerry Sandusky, and years of correspondence — never mentioned Paterno.

Instead, his family has said they are cooperating with the U.S. attorney’s office and are voluntarily handing over any requested information.

After the email was sent, Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers wrote back promptly, pointing that out to Davis and every other reporter on the original email.

In response to a question about the email, Davis said, “My email referring to Coach Paterno was a not a ‘comment’ as you inaccurately stated. It was question, and the answer was no, he was not a subject of the subpoena.”

But Paterno’s lawyers are furious. They say it’s evidence that the university is looking to pin blame for any mishandling of the Sandusky scandal on someone who can no longer defend himself. Paterno died on Jan. 22 of complications from lung cancer. “We are concerned about a pattern of attacks on Joe Paterno. We think the focus should be more on seeking the truth, and less on trying to blame the coach for the misdeeds of others,” family attorney Wick Sollers said.

“My only responsibility as attorney for the university is to help the university and the board of trustees speak the truth. I agree with the Paterno family on the need to stick to the facts, which the board has done,” Davis said.

They say the questions mostly centered around the football program and former Athletic Director Tim Curley.

“It seems to be a lot of attention paid to, ‘Why didn’t Tim Curley do things?’ ‘Didn’t he have a backbone?’ ” according to one employee who was questioned. “It was more focused on that. It wasn’t Old Main.”

A lawyer, who sat in on multiple interviews with clients, said Penn State’s “football culture” was the prevailing topic.

The Freeh probe was launched soon after the charges were filed in November, and some preliminary recommendations were made in January: prompt reporting, administrative reforms and better security within the athletic department.

That includes taking back keys from people who are no longer formally associated with Penn State.

Rodney Erickson, appointed as Penn State’s new president after Graham Spanier was forced to resign, told trustees on Friday that the university is committed to providing resources, access and information needed to support Freeh’s investigation.

The internal review has ramped up in the past couple of months.

The Patriot-News has spoken with several people who were interviewed or sat in on interviews conducted by Freeh’s team.

Speaking on the condition on anonymity, since many of those interviewed could lose their jobs, they talked about the questions they were asked.

One person interviewed said the more striking thing was the questions that were not asked. Most inquiries centered around Curley and why he never stopped Sandusky from coming into the building.

“You’re asking me why Tim Curley didn’t override a retirement agreement?” the source said. “Why not ask about Old Main? Unless they want to pin this on the foot of athletics.”

Another person who had been within the program said his interview was shallow and short.

“We didn’t have much to talk about and [questions] were pretty cut and dry,” he said. “I wasn’t there long. It was simple. There was really nothing I could add to what they were doing. ... Things like chain of command, how things went down.”

He said he was asked questions like, “Did you ever seen Spanier on the sideline of a game?”

“Was Tim Curley at practice?”

“It was very generic,” he said.

Evidence challenged

It was no secret, within Penn State, that Curley had a close relationship with Paterno.

Paterno was his coach in the 1970s when Curley was a walk-on. Curley did not play much and had his career cut short by injuries. Curley was hired as part of the athletic program and became athletic director in 1993.

Their families were close.

Curley stepped down from his position shortly after the charges against him were announced.

Paterno then announced he planned to retire at the end of the season, which was just three games away. That same day, the board of trustees fired him.

Almost immediately, McQueary’s story about what he had witnessed in the shower of the football building and allegedly relayed to Paterno, Curley and Schultz became a major focus of national attention.

After Paterno died, many people began to challenge how much evidence prosecutors really had against Curley and Schultz.

Attorneys for both men have asked a judge to throw out the charges because of a lack of evidence, but no ruling has been made.

Meanwhile, Penn State estimated the internal review would have a final report by the start of the next academic year.

Money questions

Sandusky, Curley and Schultz have all vowed to fight the charges, and have denied there was any sort of cover-up at Penn State.

However, state and federal investigations seem to be taking on that question.

Former federal prosecutors, who reviewed the subpoena at the request of The Patriot-News, said it’s likely the feds want to know if there were possible bribes, fraud or misuse of federal money.

In the federal investigation, there are no other known subpoenas.

The Second Mile, the charity where a state grand jury says Sandusky found his alleged victims, got an informal request from federal prosecutors. The relationship between the charity and Penn State appears to be a focus of the federal investigation.

But the state grand jury — the one that led to charges against Sandusky, Curley and Schultz — also continues to meet simultaneously.

And a number of university employees were recently subpoenaed by the state attorney general, according to Penn State.

The university did not release details, such as which employees were listed.

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